Life of a Bloodmage
by Snow-Midget
Summary: The life of a young, upcoming Elf, trapped in a world of chaos.
1. City in Flames

The ruins of the once great city of Dalaran lay smouldering away under the night sky, now littered with thousands upon thousands of stars and blanketed by a thin veil of cloud. It would have been a beautiful night had it not been for the tragedy that had struck this land merely a day before. Dalaran, once it was full of hope and happyness, great magical concepts and structures. A city packed with aspiring young mages and apprentices just waiting for their first taste of combat to really give them some proper experience and of course the battle weary archmages, who taught those weaker than themselves. Now the bodies of these young hopefuls and aged wizards lay on and underneath the rubble of the mighty arcane towers that once stood tall and proud. There was no discrimination between age, gender or race. All were slaughtered mercilessly at the hand of the demons. Most of these bodies reduced to nothing more than ash after being consumed by demonic flames however some remained more or less in one piece. It was from these such corpses that the smell of decay met the nostrils of a young Elven teenager, barely alive and unable to move, trapped underneath a large chunk of white marble that used to be part of his dwelling.

He awoke abruptly and immediately gave a yelp of agony as he felt a sharp pain running all the way down his right leg. What in Elune's name had happened to him to cause such pain. It was only after he had looked around, through blurred vision, that the memories came flooding back and he realized exactly what had happened. The entire city was destroyed. The demons had left absolutely nothing unharmed. Then, as he looked around further, he saw the limp body of his sister and his mother, or to put it more accurately, what was left of his mother. Her body had been charred beyond recognition in the fires that had once overwhelmed the city, her once beautiful looks now tarnished. It was quite miraculous that even Ivash Moonstar, her son, managed to recognise her. Ivash tried with every ounce of strength left in him to move the debris on top of him so he could reach his family, but it was a futile attempt. He eventually had to resign himself to the fact he was not going to be moving any time soon. He lay awake for hours, not able to sleep for the fear of the demons returning to finish off any survivors and for the sound of screams and cries for help, but there was nothing he could do for them. The young High Elf wished with all his heart that he could help them, to at least prevent them having the same fate as his own family. His family. Dead. He would never see them alive again. Never laugh when his sister poured some of Pandaria's finest ale into the nearby archmage's drinking water causing him to polymorph himself. Never be taught to use magic like his father said he would one day. He asked himself, would have been any different had he been able to use magic? No it wouldn't have been. After all what could he do against such malevolent evil. His father had no doubt died defending this city and now it was nothing but ruins. Ivash just couldn't stop wondering if he could have helped his father or not. A solitary tear slid slowly down his cheek, glittering in the moonlight. He wiped it away on the fabric of his torn clothes and snuffled his nose. And with this, he let his head fall back onto the soft, damp earth and began to drift into a deep sleep. One he was almost certain he would not wake from.

With a thunderous crash, one of the great arcane towers fell to the ground, covering the nearby area entirely in rubble and debris. Hundreds of Elves and Humans were crushed instantly under it, after just a single tower. Panic followed as more and more buildings began to crumble to the ground, destroying anything nearby. The thing that confused people most was that there was no apparent cause of what was happening. Nothing had harmed the towers, nothing that would be considered a threat was even in the city. It was only as the last arcane tower fell that all hell broke loose in the city. Literally. Scores of demons poured through the now broken gates and into the city, killing anyone who stood in their path. The army of casters that greeted them was no match at all and was slaughtered mercilessly in under a minute. The demons continued their attack, ruining the lives of countless people by raining fire upon any crowds, ripping the civilians apart with claws and cleaving their mighty swords through their flesh. As a doom guard began its approach towards Ivash, he backed away tripping over many chunks of debris behind him, until he finally found himself trapped in a corner. The doom guard glared straight at him with cold, hollow eyes. Like the dark abyss, ready to swallow Ivash up, never to return. The eyes of a killer. Ivash whimpered as the doom guard brought it's sword back, ready to strike at the young Elf. However, here is where Ivash has a dramatic change of luck. It turned out a fellow doom guard had been calling hellfire on top of the very house Ivash was about to be brutally murdered in. The result was that the roof completely caved in, burying the other doom guard in four tonnes of Elven construct. The small adolescant only had a relatively small boulder fall on top of him, allowing him to survive for right now. Outside, the demons continued destroying all trace of life in the city. The scene kept repeating itself over and over in Ivash's mind. He kept seeing his father fall to the ground as a fell hound ripped through his chest, blood blossoming from his chest, and he saw himself hiding in the corner...through the eyes of the doom guard.  
"AAAGH!" screamed Ivash as he awoke from the terrible nightmare he had been experiencing. "Just a dream. Calm down it was just a dream."  
And then, once again, he came to terms with how very real his nightmare had been.

After an incredibly disturbed night's sleep, Ivash awoke only to find the rock he had been trapped under lifted and placed to one side, leaving him free to move at last. No longer did he fear a demon was going to find him laying there helpless. His legs, however, were a mess. He hadnt realized last night, but they were crumpled, the bones had been crushed, and the flesh and skin was ripped apart. At his feet sat a pool of blood, crimson red. Ivash was so lucky to be alive yet he didn't know it. The adrenaline that had been coursing through his veins was no longer there. He could feel the agonising pain in his entire body without the adrenaline there to help. He let out a scream of pain as Ivash attempted to sit up, but found the stabbing pain in his chest too much to bear.

"Ahh, in a bit of pain are you. Well, I'll soon sort that out for you." said a strange, deep and unfamiliar voice.

Ivash was incredibly startled by the stranger. At first thinking he was a demon who was actually intelligent enough to learn the common language that just about every other race in the world knew. However he soon realized that it couldn't be a demon. If it were, then Ivash would not have survived long enough to even contemplate that thought. He soon came to his senses and looked around to find an aged man of around fifty looking at him.

"Eh? Where did you come from?" asked Ivash in a rather disrespectful tone.  
"Why, i am the one who saved you from certain death." replied the man.

"But...i thought everybody was dead. Killed by the demons."

"Yes most of them were." the man said sadly. "Some of us, however, have managed to survive by taking shelter in the underground section of the city."

"Wow...i dont suppose...i mean is there any chance my father is there?"  
"I dont know. You'll need to come along with me and look for yourself." replied the man.  
"I guess I'll have to." but Ivash was frightened of seeing the corpse of his father, yes he was almost certain it would be a corpse.

"Can i just ask, what's your name anyway?" Ivash asked.

"My name is Keln Lightbearer. I'm a paladin.

"Well Keln, I am Ivash Moonstar." responded Ivash.  
"Quite a name. I presume you are one of the High Born."  
"Yes...I am. Or rather, was. Now I have nothing left at all."  
"Oh but you don't know that." said Keln.

"Hmm...maybe." but Ivash knew full well that he would never see his father again. No matter how much he searched.

And with that, Keln began to patch up Ivash, curing the critical wounds Ivash had recieved. There was only so much Keln's holy light could fix, however, so Ivash had to make do with the slow method for mending bones. The holy light did help the bones mend some, but it was several hours before they were ok to walk on again. Oh the wonders of healing magic.


	2. Deadly Potential

It actually felt strange to Ivash to sit up and move after being there so long. It was as if he was comfortable trapped underneath debris.

"Well at least you can move now." said Keln.

"True. Do you think we could begin to move to the Underground now?"

"Yes, but Ivash, tell me about yourself please. If you are to come with me I would want to know what you are like."

"Well, I guess so. But there isn't really that much to tell. Mine has just been a childhood like any other child's. I grew up in this once great city, I began to get tuition from the local archmage, just as almost every other child here did. My father, he was a priest. I know priests are meant to be volunteers, but somehow dad managed to get a salary for his work." Ivash gave a weak laugh at this. "My mother, she worked in the local market. Set up a stall there everyday, sold imported foods to the people here and the fresh bread I used to help her bake early in the morning, before anyone else was out in the streets."

"There must be something specific about yourself. No one is ordinary."

"Yes...I guess there is. Well, I have a thirst for magic. I've seen my dad and the others use it before, but that just isn't enough. I want more than just that magic. I _need_ more than just that magic."

Keln looked on at him, facinated by Ivash's tale.

"I guess that's probably just about it." said Ivash

"I'm sure there's more than that young boy, but it doesn't matter, I wont press you into telling me more"

"I would like to get going now if it's ok with you. Im just anxious to get into safety."

"Yes, right you are. Lets get moving." Keln said

He closely followed Keln out the door, managing to walk quite easily on his mended legs with only a slight twinge of annoyance with every step. But it was nothing Ivash couldn't put up with. They continued at a brisk pace, trying to keep to the edges of the buildings or the shadows as much as possible in order to avoid detection. The two companions travelled for about half an hour, past one of the four arcane towers that served to protect the inhabitants. It was little more than a mound of stone and wood and dust now, with a faint smell of decay hanging around it. They even passed several large piles of carcasses, burning furiously and emitting a smell so vile that it can not be described in mere words.

They managed to pass several groups of demons loitering around the ruined streets, vandalising almost everything they could. Much like present day youths. However, it was a bit much of them to hope for safe passage to the Underground. It wasn't long before something caught their scent. Ivash and Keln had kept out of sight, but fell hounds had a keen sense of smell and easily sniffed out the intruders as soon as they made the mistake of getting too near. Fell hounds were much like dogs: Agile, deadly when they want to be and they had very keen senses. In a matter of seconds, the two fell hounds had leapt and bounded across the debris, traversing about half a mile in almost no time at all.

"Ivash, stay back. We're not alone. Quickly, hide yourself among the -" but Keln didn't manage to complete the sentence before he was pounced upon.

The force of the fellhound hitting into his ribs sent him reeling back into a wall, but this was not enough to throw him off guard completely. As the second hound made to lunge at Keln, the paladin swung his mighty hammer at the beast's head. The fellhound parried the blow with its horns, causing one horn to snap, but it's mate quickly retaliated with a thrust into Keln's chest. He doubled over, mouth gaping as he felt the blow. He felt a small trickle of blood run down his chest and noticed that a horn had pierced his armour.

"Quickly Ivash, run. The entrance isn't far from here. You can still make it."

"I wont leave you!" replied Ivash.

"Just go!"

"I...fine."

Ivash began to run in the direction of the entrance. He had only ran a short distance when one of the hounds moved in to block his path. The Elf staggered backwards, stumbling over some charcoaled wood as he went, till the back of his head bumped against the cold stone. He glanced over at Keln and saw, to his dismay, that Keln was on the ground. His hammer was the only thing between him and the jaws of his foe and it didn't look like the hammer's staff was going to hold for long. Ivash turned back to his own hound, the reeking smell of it's breath now hot in Ivash's nostrils. He fell to the ground, paralyzed in fear as it closed in on him. His arms were outstretched, willing the hound to turn away and have mercy on him. It was at that instant, when Ivash's arms reached out, that he felt a surge of energy pulsing through him. The monster was almost upon him, but as it took another step closer, a brilliant jet of orange flame errupted from the palms of the boy's hands. It blossomed forth, directly into the face of evil, spreading into every nook and crevase. The eyes, the nose, the mouth, even the ears. Although the hound had been born in fire, it was not accustomed to this intensity. It roared in pain as it sprinted back away from the boy, who all the time had been looking away. He turned back towards where the hound had been. The stream of fire had stopped and the incredibly magic that had coursed through Ivash had now diminished, thought he could feel something still there.

Meanwhile, Keln had been continuing his own battle. He had taken quite a beating, but had somehow slain his opponent. His armour was shredded from the hound's horns and blood was pouring from a wide gash on his forehead. He also had a limp in his left leg andwas clutching his abdomen. But he was far more concerned about Ivash, for he knew full well he had only been fight against one, which meant the other must have gone for the Elf. He limped over in the direction Ivash had been running, gasping with each step he took. He didn't have to look very far, for Ivash had not managed to get very far.

"Hey." began Keln.

Ivash didn't say anything.

"You ok kid?"

"Yeah." Ivash replied. "You don't look in very good shape." Ivash had finally come to his senses and realized what had happened.

"Heh, yeah I've been better thats for sure. But what happened to you? I was sure the beast was out to get you."

"Hmm...It was. To be honest, I really don't know what happened. I think...I think i used magic." Ivash said.

"Magic? At your age? Well i must say if that's the case, then I'm impressed."

"Thanks." said Ivash.

"Anyway, don't you think we should be moving on to our destination?" asked Keln

"Yes. You're right." Ivash replied.

"Well lets get moving. We certainly don't want any more distractions like that again."

Keln helped Ivash up off the ground and picked up his sledgehammer. They began to move on again, but with far slower progress seeing as Keln couldn't walk properly. It took them almost half an hour to walk to the entrance even though it wasn't that far to walk. As they approached the entrance, Ivash had a definite frown on his face. Thinking of all that has happened. Dalaran's destruction, his father's probable death and the attack. But in his heart he was smiling. He had used magic and that to him was something to be happy about.


End file.
